Bush Contradicts Pentagon on Troop Strength
LONDON, Nov. 20 -- President Bush indicated Thursday that he could send more troops to Iraq, raising questions about Pentagon statements that the number would be reduced rather than increased in the coming year...His comment appeared to take top aides by surprise. As the president spoke, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice glanced pointedly toward the press corps assembled inside Britain's foreign office as if to suggest that there might be some clarification coming.
Art Linkletter used to do the same thing...
Hmm. Maybe when Powell and Rice glanced "pointedly" at the press corps, they were warning them to keep their mouths shut.
With the March deadline for withdrawing troops approaching like a Freightliner truck, I can't imagine where Bush will get these soldiers. With the Sri Lankan civil war winding down, maybe he can hire some ex-Tamil Tigers to patrol Tikrit. They won't take no guff from bitter-enders.
What was the name of the old Linkletter show?
Didn't ANYONE tell this mutt what the latest Rove Blastfax said about lowering troop levels so he can get elected for the first time?
i guess they forgot to tell georgie to watch what he says...
up is down
more is less
"Art Linkletter used to do the same thing..."
Yes, right after the kid reported he and Dad caught Mom and Santa in the bed together, smoking cigarettes
Good call, Billmon
All Bush said was the troop levels might go down, might stay the same, might go up. In other words, he doesn't know what The Plan is, or if there is one. He's just on vacation seeing a bunch of men in funny hats with sharp pointy swords and staying in a neat house, eatin' a bunch of strange food.
Like George would be expected to know what the plan was regarding troop numbers.
All anyone needs to know about the present power structure was demonstrated on 9-11....the clueless Bush sat in a classroom with a bunch of (other) children while the Secret Service rushed Cheney to a secure location so he could coordinate (haha) the military response.
Since the invasion of iraq and the current
offensive, Iron Hammer has the terrorists on the
run, we won't need to have any troops in Iraq
soon... I wonder what intel these guys get??
Bush claims he Doesn't read any news But has
someone read him the stories. Probably Can't read
but he needs New readers since they are Lieing to
him. Maybe Rummy and Congi are telling the
readers what to tell him. He must be being kept
in the dark. Sounds it...
Plans for Iraq. plans for Afghanistan, plans for Syria, Iran, N. Korea, Hussein, Bin Laden for the American Peace, for control of petroleum, for a fortress of Democracy in the Mideast, who cares about reality? Or performance? Or truth? Or honor? The boy wonder is beyond such realities living as he does in a world of fantasy and dreams, Imagine a foreign policy conducted on pure whimsey, Sound all alarms, disaster is in the wings.
We had to destroy the village to save it, we have to increase the troop levels so we can reduce them at the same time. By both increasing and decreasing the troop levels simultaneously we can claim in front of the appropriate audience that we are doing what we wanted.
we have Schroedinger's Iraq. And when we open the box, sure enough, the troops are dead, but you aren't allowed to see them.
The Art Linkletter show was called "People Are Funny."
His much lesser-known brother, Jack Linkletter, briefly had a show called "On the Go."
It was a trick comment
Over at my blog (click on my name) I was looking at this statement to see if it could bear any resemblence to reality. I have concluded that the United States could increase troop strength in Iraq if one of these three assumptions were relaxed:
1) The US wants/needs a strategic reserve (right now the 2cd and elements of the 3rd Marine Divisions)
2) The US wants an effective army in the 2005-2006 timeframe
3) The US wants an effective reserve system in 2005-2006 timeframe.
Relax any one of those assumptions and Bush will have discovered dozens of additional deployed brigade months.
Boy, I wish that all of these "economists" on the right remembered the concept of opportunity cost when they were hatching up their plans for Iraq.
Why does anybody ever even read anything Bush says anymore? Anything he says is taken to mean whatever the prevailing Rovian point of view happens to be for the day. I think the reporters don;t question his bullshit because - if asked a hard question, he would have no idea what the fuck he is talking about. I feel like they are all in on a con game - afraid to collapse the wave function.
The Art Linkletter show was called "People Are Funny."
Thank You english professor. Was that his daytime show that came on during the week?
Daryl (if that is you because you forgot to put your name on your work the second time around):
Honey, you're on the internet. Accessing Google and typing in "Art Linkletter + television" would have saved you keystrokes over what you have already typed. It will make you look self-reliant and capable.
Your questions are brilliant in this comment section only if you're providing us with an analogy of what Bush may be doing on a typical day: "Unka Karl, do I say 'up' or 'down' on troop numbers?"
He probably spoke the truth, not aware of the finer details of Bushco mendacity. The policy in the "handover" is elastic, to say the least. Right now, it behooves them to think Bushco have a plan beyond saying one thing to this constituency, and that thing to the other.
They cannot help but lie.